Cruel caging of dogs at young offenders' camp continues despite CEO's promise

BUZZ’s reporter was able to take only a couple of photos of caged dogs before being surrounded by shirtless young men who told him to stop. Some dogs, including a Springer Spaniel, are being kept in cages so small they can barely turn around.

Dogs continue to be cruelly confined at the Christian young offenders’ camp in the country park, despite visits by the police, SPCA and animal welfare people. The police and SPCA concluded they could do nothing because the law does not state minimum sizes for dog cages. Animal welfare people say dogs should never be kept in cages, period.

On July 20 a SAI KUNG BUZZ team member hiked to the New Being Fellowship camp by the back trails. Arriving at 11.15am he found shirtless young men working in the fields and tending to the animals. The camp has about 20 dogs, some in compounds, some in cages so small they can hardly turn around. It was our representative’s fourth visit to the camp. On previous occasions it was deserted by humans and all the dogs were locked in small cages. This apparently remains the case over night and on Sundays when the Christians presumably take their charges to church. The young men and older instructors were friendly until our man started to take photos of the caged dogs. They surrounded him and made it clear he had better stop. Alone, he did.

Former drug addicts tending crops at Christian New being Fellowship in the country park.

Sunny Fung, New Being CEO, wrote to BUZZ in October last year: “We are also dog lovers and we do care about the conditions of our dogs… We have already planned to improve the living conditions of our dogs in recent years… We have been held up by the rearrangement of the training centre, and thus the renewal of the dogs’ kennels was delayed. We apologise for the delay of the renewal and are trying to our best to speed up progress.” Nine months later we see no sign of the improvement in the dogs’ living conditions that Sunny promised.

The whole concept of the Christian New Being Fellowship is praiseworthy. They take young offenders — Sunny said they are former drug addicts — and immerse them in a healthy lifestyle, tending crops and looking after animals. Along with dogs, they have caged goats, turtles, birds and other creatures. When New Being treats its animals as well as the humans it will be an entirely laudatory organisation.

For those who haven’t been to the camp, it is below the Lady Maclehose Holiday Village at Pak Tam in the country park. New Being appears to be getting new fencing so if you want to visit the camp and kept up the pressure to improve the animals’ condtions you may need to take the back trails. The trail from the Pak Tam Chung car park, where many python attacks on dogs have occurred, is one route.